St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1887-06-25
A CRUISE OF SALT.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage breaches on Mu-
nicipal Corruption.

Key H. LIE WIFI 1a1n2Se fT0aCHes Oh IVA u
nicipal Corruption.
BROOKLYN, June 19.-This morning at
the Tabernacle the Rev. T. Dewitt Tai
b mage read, previous to the sermon, por-
tons of Scripture descriptive of ancient
cities, and gave the hymn:
Fields are white, the harvest waiting,
Who shall bear the sheaves away?
His text was: "And the men of the
city said unto Elisha, Behold, Ipray thee,
the situation of this city is pleasant, as
my Lord seeth; but the water is naught
and the ground barren. And he said,
Bring me new cruise and put salt
therein. And they brought 1t to him.
And he went forth unto the spring of
the waters and cast the salt in there and
said, Thus said the Lord, have healed
these waters; there shall not be from
thence any more death or barren land
So the waters were healed unto this day"
3 Kings ii: 1922. DR.. Talmage said:
It is difficult to estimate how much of
the prosperity and health of city are
dependent upon good water. The time
when, through well-laid pipes and from
safe reservoir, an abundance of water,
from Croton, or Ridgewood, or Schuvl-
kill, is brought into the city, is appro-
priately celebrated with Grafton and
pyrotechnic display. Thank God every
day for clear, bright, beautiful, sparkling
water, as it drops in the shower, or
losses up in the fountain, or rushes out
at the hydrant.
The city of Jericho, notwithstanding
all its physical and commercial advan-
tages, was lacking in this important ele
ment. There was enough water, but it
was diseased, and the people were cry
ing out by reason thereof. Elisha the
prophet comes to the rescue. He says:
''Get me a new cruise; fill it with salt
and bring it to me-" So the cruise of
salt was brought to the prophet, and
see him walking out to the general res
ervoir, and he takes that salt and throws
it into the reservoir, and 10! all the i'm
purities depart, through supernatural
and divine influence, and the waters are
good and fresh and clear, and all the
people clap their hands and lift up their
faces in the gladness. Water for Jer-
icho-clear, bright, beautiful, God-given
water.
At different times I have pointed out
to you the fountains of municipal cor
ruption, and this morning propose to
show you what are the means for the
rectifcation of those fountains. There
are four or five kinds of salt that have
cleansing tendency. So far as God may
help me I shall bring cruise of salt to
the work and empty it into the great
reservoir of municipal crime, sin and
shame, ignorance and abomination.
In this work of cleansing our cities |
have first to remark that there is work
for the broom and the shovel that moth
ing else can do. There always has been
an intimate connection between iniquity
and dirt. The filthy parts of the great
cities are always the most iniquitous
parts. The cutters and the pavements
of the Fourth ward, New York, illus
trate and symbolic the character of the
people in the Fourth ward.
The first thing that bad man does
when he is converted is thoroughly to
wash himself. There were, this morning,
on the way to the different churches,
thousands of men in proper apparel who,
before their conversion, were unfit in
their Sabbath dress. When on the Sab
bath see man uncleanly in his dress
my suspicious in regard to his moral
character are aroused, and they are al
ways well founded So as to allow no
excuse. for lack of ablution, God has
cleft the continents with rivers and
lakes, and has sunk five great oceans,
and all the world ought to be clean
Away, then, with the dirt from our cities,
not only because the physical health
needs ablution, but because all the great
moral and religious interests Of the cities
demand 1t as positive necessity. A
filthy city always has been and always
will be wicked city.
Through the upturning of the earth
for great improvement our city could
not be expected to be as clean as usual,
but for the illimitable dirt of Brooklyn
for the last six months there Is no ex-
cuse. It is not merely matter of dust
In the eyes, and mud for the shoes, and
stencil for the nostrils, but of morals for
the soul.
Another corrective influence that we
would bring to bear upon the evils Of
our great cities is q Christian printing
press. The newspapers of any place are
the test of its morality or immortality
The newsboy who runs along the street
with roll Of papers under his arm is q
tremendous force that cannot be turned
aside nor resisted, and at his every step
the city is elevated or degraded. This
hungry, all-devouring American mind